♀Mary (surname unknown)

Mary (died 1611) was a woman of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, England, who married Johannes Tawier and is said to have been the mother of Richard Thayer, baptised there in 1562. She was the eleventh great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through her son Richard Thayer (baptized 1562).

Her maiden name is not known. Her son Richard was baptized at Thornbury on 2 August 1562, the clerk writing the name in Latin as “Ricardus Tawier” and, as that register did, naming the child’s godparents rather than his parents. Her husband was still living at Thornbury on 12 October 1584. Mary is said to have died at Thornbury on 20 April 1611.

Lines of descent

Both lines to Nancy Jane Blanchard run through her son Richard Thayer and two more generations of Richards to Nathaniel Thayer (1658–1728), and on down to Mary Thayer (1770–1827). Two of Mary Thayer’s grandchildren, Joseph Knapp Blanchard (1820–1885) and Elizabeth Trueworthy Blanchard (1825–1884), married each other, so their son Wesley Blanchard (1844–1908) descended from her through both parents.

Notes

The 1922 column

Her place in the family rests on a genealogy column printed in the Boston Evening Transcript in 1922. It names her as Mary, wife of Johannes Tawier of Thornbury, gives her death as 20 April 1611, and makes the couple the parents of Richard Thayer, born 2 August 1562.

The Thornbury register of the 1560s names godparents, never parents, so it cannot test the link. It also has a second Ricardus Tawier, baptized on 6 April 1565, and the column’s choice of the 1562 child is its own.